1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a molded component having excellent durability and design, an electronic apparatus that uses the molded component for a casing thereof, and a method of producing a molded component.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a method of decorating a surface of an injection-molded component during molding, there is known, for example, an in-mold molding method. The in-mold molding involves pressing a film that is obtained by causing a pattern to adhere onto a sheet in advance by a print method, a vapor deposition method, or the like into a die, and transferring, simultaneous with molding of a resin, the pattern onto a surface of the molding resin (see, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-210971). However, an exposure of an in-mold layer on a surface of the molded component decorated by the in-mold molding is apt to cause an inconvenience that a decorative effect lessens due to abrasions and damages or an appearance is impaired.
On the other hand, there is known a two-color molding method for forming, on a surface of a primary molded component, a secondary molded layer formed of a resin different from a primary molding resin. For example, Japanese Patent No. 3,472,403 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 2) discloses a method of molding a transparent secondary molding resin on a surface of a primary molding resin onto which an in-mold layer has been transferred. In Patent Document 2, the primary molding resin and the secondary molding resin are molded by respectively injecting a molten resin from a primary molding resin injection path and a secondary molding resin injection path formed in a common core. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 also discloses a molding method in which a surface of the secondary molded layer is additionally decorated by the in-mold molding method.